Zook to usher in new era for Illini

No-huddle offense, revamped defense take aim at Rutgers

CHAMPAIGN — The only other Illinois football coach with the initials R.Z. is a hard act to follow because Robert Zuppke's teams won four national titles and seven Big Ten titles from 1913 to '41.

Time will tell if Ron Zook turns out to be the Zuppke of the new millenium. But hopes are high he can get the Illini out of the 4-19 rut of Ron Turner's last two seasons as he heads into his debut Saturday against Rutgers at Memorial Stadium.

Illinois hasn't been to a bowl game since Turner's 2001 team lost in the Sugar Bowl after winning the Big Ten.

Meanwhile, in each of the next three seasons, Zook led Florida to bowl games. Making this achievement even more meaningful, early last season Zook and his team were notified he was fired as of the end of the season. Nevertheless, his players persevered, and when he went to Champaign to take his new job in December the Gators were bound for the Peach Bowl.

"There are a lot of similarities in where we're at now and where we were then," Zook said, recalling the start of his first year as a college head coach in 2002. "We're maybe even a little ahead because we've been through it. You learn better ways of doing things.

"This game is going to give us a pretty good feel for where we are. Rutgers is experienced. It's explosive. It has a 3,000-yard thrower (senior Ryan Hart); it has a 1,600-yard runner (junior Brian Leonard); it has a tight end (junior Clark Harris) who can run and catch. On defense its front seven is pretty good--they chase the ball, they're very athletic and they move around."

Hart, who threw for 3,154 yards last season, and Leonard, who has accounted for 1,612 yards running and 1,006 receiving combined in the last two years, will be facing a defense that has been reconstructed after yielding an average of 229.6 yards passing and 194.3 yards rushing in 2004.

"Last year we were in a basic 4-3 front 90 percent of the time," sophomore linebacker J Leman said. "This year there are tons of fronts. We'll make the offense adjust to us."

Sophomore cornerback Charles Bailey knows that minimizing long gains and maximizing interception opportunities are vital if the Illini are to begin the Zook era with a victory.

"The secondary has one of the more important roles on the team," Bailey said. "We know they have a good quarterback, but the more pressure we get on him the more likely it is one of us will be in position to pick off a pass."

Zook's no-huddle, spread offense is spearheaded by junior running backs Pierre Thomas and E.B. Halsey. His quarterback is redshirt sophomore Tim Brasic, who threw for an IHSA single-game record 589 yards as a senior at Riverside-Brookfield but has attempted only one pass in his two years at Illinois.

After encountering the offense day after day in practice, Leman believes it will be very difficult to defend against.

"The pace they go at is breakneck," Leman said. "It's go, go, go. They spread you out and don't give you time to adjust."

Like Zuppke, Zook is an innovative coach. He would love to begin with a victory--as Zuppke did in beating Kentucky 21-0 in 1913--but he doesn't consider it vital to the long-term building process.

"I'm not going to tell our football team we have to win this game," he said. "When you put the cart before the horse you bring in too many other things."